Thursday, March 26, 2009

Teeth, Pincer Grip, and Sleep Regression...Oh My!

The drool is back, in a MAJOR way. I think Landon is trying to cut another tooth or four, based on his super puffy gums. Eating hasn't been lacking, even with all the drool and a sore mouth. He loves him some purees and is currently feasting on the following in pureed form:

Avocado
Sweet Potato
Pear
Mango
Pea
Green Bean
Butternut Squash
Rice Cereal
Baby Oatmeal
Peach
Blueberry

I've got some zucchini waiting in the wings and am going to try that and some yogurt this weekend. He's also still practicing his pincer grip with Cheerios but isn't the least bit interested in any other finger foods right now. I've tried sweet potato cubes, diced pear, cooked peas, and cooked green beans. Landon was most into the peas, so we've been offering those more, but still not as interested as he is with the purees.

In all the excitement with his new mobility skills he's done a fair amount of regressing with his sleep. Since Landon has never taken to a pacifier or found an interest in his thumb he really doesn't have any self soothing skills, his main "self soother" if you even want to call it that was swaddling. So much so that we only stopped swaddling him to sleep a little over a month ago. Now, he's way too excited to sleep and has been sitting up or standing in his crib before I even leave the room. Sometimes he'll play quietly, sometimes he'll whine or chatter, and sometimes he gives his lungs a real workout. I'm not wishing this time away, but Mama could really use some sleep. Hopefully this mobility stuff will be old news to him soon and we'll get our one to two wakings each night back in place. Especially since right before all of this he spoiled me with sleeping through the night twice in a row.

T-minus three months and counting until his first birthday. WOW. I don't know if I'm ready for that!

Thursday, March 19, 2009

We're in trouble now

Landon has gotten pretty good at pulling himself from a sitting position to a standing position. I've also noticed that for the last few days he'll successfully get himself into a sitting position from being on his tummy, though nobody ever witnessed how he did it until yesterday. Irma mentioned to me that she would go to get him up from his nap and he would be sitting in his crib happy as a clam. Last night I was changing my clothes getting ready to put him down for the night and set him in the middle of our bathroom floor while I was changing in the closet (our bathroom is big and carpeted). Well what do you know, I turn around and he's swinging one leg underneath him and sitting up! Way to go, little man!

Fast forward to him going down for the night. He started whining and semi-crying about 20 minutes after being asleep. He wasn't stopping so Mark went in to calm him down and get him back to sleep only to find him STANDING in his crib. Ayayay! Our backs have been spoiled until now since we haven't needed to drop the crib matress to a lower setting, but clearly now we need to.

In other news, it's been quite a week over here; as the saying goes, when it rains it pours. I think it's been hailing at our house. Mark and I spent Monday night in the emergency room when his stomach pain got way out of hand, they thought he had apendicitis at first, but after being admitted to the hospital they decided it was an infection of some sort in his intestines. Blech. We're happy to have him home, but it's thrown off the entire week. We're also smack dab in the middle of the addition and are living in a construction zone. I'm a creature of comfort and don't do well with layers upon layers of dust everywhere and stuff piled anywhere there is any extra space. I can't wait for this to be over! The icing on the cake...the washing machine broke down, and I've got loads upon loads of laundry to do. Oh, and the cherry on top...allergies. Or a cold, or maybe a combination of both - who knows! I do know that Landon's got a little bit of a cough and I'm congested enough to be very annoyed. Let's just move right along to next week.

Friday, March 13, 2009

Our Little Family


The Outside World

Nine months ago today we were waiting with baited breath to find out whether or not the doctors were going to let us go home. I had already been given my walking papers, but the doctors were contemplating keeping Landon in the nursery. I was trying to come to terms with leaving the hospital without my baby, something I never expected, and something that thankfully never happened.

I'm amazed at just how far we've come - all three of us - in the last nine months. There have been ups and downs, but all in, I don't think I'd trade any single bit of it (okay, maybe a few more hours of sleep would be nice, but that's just icing on the cake).

Landon had his well baby visit earlier this week and is up to a hefty 17 pounds 3 ounces! Just nine months ago today we were all concerned that his weight dropped down to 5 pounds 11 ounces. He's holding steady for both weight and height in the 6th percentile today when nine months ago he wasn't even on the charts. His little brain is growing too, he's jumped up to the 64th percentile in head circumference. Oh, and we're still breastfeeding - I never thought I'd see this day.

He's almost ready to crawl now and rocks on all fours but prefers to keep himself mobile by rolling everywhere. He LOVES everything about outside and is quite the observant little guy. His changing table isn't his favorite place anymore and it's becoming increasingly difficult to command his attention long enough to change his diaper. He absolutely loves Cheerios and has learned the sign for "more." He smiles and claps and loves it when everyone else in the room is smiling and clapping too. His absolute favorite thing in the world is bathtime. He's a little fish and we're scoping out swimming lessons for him as soon as the weather gets a little warmer. Landon is a Dr. Seuss lover and thinks "Put Me In the Zoo" "Go Dog, Go" and "Mr. Brown Can Moo" are tons more fun than "Goodnight Moon."

I love watching Daddy and Landon together, what a pair! Landon seems to save his biggest smiles and belly laughs for Daddy. Landon loves to "fly" and pull Daddy's hair when he's sitting on his shoulders. I'm in awe of Mark as a father and am so glad it's him that I'm on this journey of life, love, and parenthood with.

Now, if only the laundry would fold itself, the dishes would grow legs and walk into the dishwasher, the dust rags would dance across the tables and ledges magically, and the dogs would pick up after themselves. Then, life would be perfect. I'll take it as it is any day though, there's not much to improve upon.